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I've heard that the UK (and UK only!) has an iPhone app that includes remote start, provided you have Navi Prof and BT. Search for IPhone App X3 my BMW remote. It also includes door lock/unlock and climate control. Sadly not for us non-English, though.

I've heard that the UK (and UK only!) has an iPhone app that includes remote start, provided you have Navi Prof and BT. Search for IPhone App X3 my BMW remote. It also includes door lock/unlock and climate control. Sadly not for us non-English, though.

I have the UK "My BMW Remote" app and it can flash the lights, sound the horn twice, open or lock the doors, and send a google map coordinate to the car's nav. It cannot remotely start the car.

Hey guys, just wanted to necro-thread this topic real quick to contribute some info.

I'm an MECP Advanced 12v Installation tech at a central WI Best Buy install bay, and do remote starts as 90% of my job from November until February every year. Just recently I had the "fun" time of installing a remote start in a 2013 BMW X3.
The majority of shops and so forth DO NOT have a solution for this, because there is no 'plug and play' solution to control the vehicle through the CAN Bus system. Some BMW models have a legit solution (3 Series, etc), but this one did not. However, it was do-able, and took a lot of nonsense to make it work. The truck was with me for 3 days, and I had about 15 hours sunk into it total. The major issue for installation is interfacing with the PTS switch, which required soldering 8 leads directly onto the PTS switch's circuit board. Tricky work. The owner does also need to give up a keyfob, which has the battery removed and is buried in the dash and used interface with the immobilizer system using a Directed 1101T module.

The two big issues I ran into were:
-No way to turn off the autolights after remote start. They turn off with a door being opened, and the door pin trigger is NOT a traditional - trigger circuit.
-Could not interface with the arm/disarm circuits from the driver's door key cylinder to control door locks for the same reason as the door trigger ^^^^

Here's a video:

If anyone's got any questions my work number is 715-343-7300. If you miss me in the shop feel free to leave a message! Even if you're not in the WI area I'm networked with a lot of really ace install techs who may be up for the challenge!

Pretty interesting stuff. I used to be an MECP Advanced installer at a Best Buy in AZ as well. My most challenging remote start install was in a 2003 Range Rover, mostly because of the position of the key cylinder in the center console meant a LOT of the dashboard had to come out. Felt good to get it working though.

On a side note, I find there is nothing useful about remote starting for cold mornings. All modern cars are capable of being driven within seconds after being started. Driving off immediately after starting gets the engine up to operating much faster (2 minutes?) than having it idle away in your driveway (more than 15 minutes?) and it's a complete waste of gas. The only benefit I can see if having the seat warmers kick in. Getting a 3rd party to cooperate with BMW's CAN system I'm sure is a nightmare (and after that a firmware upgrade could render that programming useless all over again).

All modern cars are capable of being driven within seconds after being started.

Driving off immediately after starting gets the engine up to operating much faster

With few exceptions I follow the manufacturers directions very closely and do not have a great deal of respect for those that feel they know better than the manufacturer. This is one of those rare exceptions and it is a major exception.

It is just not intuitively acceptable to start a complex piece of machinery that is cold soaked at 20 F and immediately put load on it, even a light load. None of the clearances are where they should be until everything uniformly warms up to normal operating temperature. Also, every single piece of consequential machinery I have had experience with in 40 years in heavy industrial settings has heat up limitations so warming up quickly as possible is just not consistent with common sense. There are different alloys with different coeficients of expansion. There are parts with finite dimensions that cannot heat up uniformly. It just does not make sense to start and go, even if minimizing how fast one accelerates.

I certainly believe all vehicles are capable of being driven within seconds after being started but this must eventually take some finite toll on the trouble free longevity of the engine. As far as burning a little gas while waiting a few minutes to warm up a little, why would I care about a few cents worth of gasoline in a $50K car? I think if one intends to keep a vehicle for any consequential amount of mileage one should let it warm up to at least some reasonable temperature before worrying about wasting a few cents of gas.

Contrary to what most people think, prolong idling to warm up a car will not extend the life the engine. When idling, the car is running at a fuel rich state, over time, that can cause problems in the catalytic converter and can also degrade the engine's performance and reduce mileage.

Isaac! I'm in Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and would like remote start on my 13 X3! Are you willing to do another one?

I find it amazing people don't understand the NEED for remote start. The only thing I can think of is that they don't live in a severe climate like Wisconsin. This morning the temp IN the garage was 13, the temp outside was 3 and the wind chill was around -10. Starting my X3, immediately driving it with heated seats and wheel - still freezing to death after 10 minutes or more. Why go through that? I started another X3 remote start string and I'm glad that I found this one.

Isaac! I'm in Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and would like remote start on my 13 X3! Are you willing to do another one?

I find it amazing people don't understand the NEED for remote start. The only thing I can think of is that they don't live in a severe climate like Wisconsin. This morning the temp IN the garage was 13, the temp outside was 3 and the wind chill was around -10. Starting my X3, immediately driving it with heated seats and wheel - still freezing to death after 10 minutes or more. Why go through that? I started another X3 remote start string and I'm glad that I found this one.

I find it amazing people don't understand the NEED for remote start. The only thing I can think of is that they don't live in a severe climate like Wisconsin. This morning the temp IN the garage was 13, the temp outside was 3 and the wind chill was around -10. Starting my X3, immediately driving it with heated seats and wheel - still freezing to death after 10 minutes or more. Why go through that? I started another X3 remote start string and I'm glad that I found this one.

That's 3 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty bitter cold. The point is, the answer here isn't "toughen up". The answer here is my, as well as many others, is to be warm and comfortable in my car when I get in it. BMW should give us that option regardless of their idealistic philosophies.

That's 3 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty bitter cold. The point is, the answer here isn't "toughen up". The answer here is my, as well as many others, is to be warm and comfortable in my car when I get in it. BMW should give us that option regardless of their idealistic philosophies.

I think I'm exepriencing deja vu as I swear this just came up not long ago. Might have been another forum though But...

Getting to the root of "remote start" is that we don't want to crawl into, or run a freezing cold vehicle. Seen on some of the BMW marketing stuff running around the interwebs is a secondary heating device that is added onto the coolant loop of the engine and brings the temp up there so everything is toasty warm for the driver, without the need to let the engine sit idle. I dont know if it is available as a retrofit in the US or if you can get it from overseas and have it installed, but it looks like a nifty option to have.

As you can see from my profile though, I'm in Florida and running my AC in the middle of December, so I dont know about auxiliary heating for our cars. In my defense I did grow up in Nebraska though, so I totally sympathize and "plugged in" my car on those cold wintery nights to keep me and the engine from freezing.